There are many ways to accumulate air miles – some even without flying. Here is the list:
Flights. This is an obvious one. The more you fly using your frequent flyer membership, the more you accumulate. When you book the tickets, you should enter your membership number in the booking form If you forget or are not able to enter for some reason during the booking process, you can do so
when you reach the check-in counter – simply present your frequent flyer card to the airline staff. If you don’t have the card, write your membership number on the ticket printout and request the staff to enter it. If you still forget or are not able to do this, then login to your membership account (you should have received an email notification when you signed up for the program – save the username and password). Almost all airlines have a link for Claim Missing Miles or something to that effect. Click on it and enter the details of the journey undertaken like date, the PNR number, flight number etc. A caution though, these missing miles claim is time bound and varies from two weeks to six months – you should check the details on the frequent flyer website / page.
Different Means to Rack Up Airline Miles For India Travel Photo Gallery
Airline Partners. You can earn these miles or points not only the airline of which you have a frequent flyer membership, but also its partner airlines. e.g. JetAirways has over 25 airline partners including Etihad, Turkish Airlines, United etc. This helps especially when the airline is not part of any alliance like Star Alliance etc.
Credit Cards. This is another excellent way to accumulate miles. You should get a co-branded or travel credit card from issuer/s that suits you. The points you get when joining will give a good boost for accumulation. So when you make any purchase where it is possible to pay using credit cards go ahead and do it, even in certain places where they charge you some processing fee like 2% of the bill. Surprised? Say, you spent Rs. 10,000 at a store and the billing clerk says he will charge you 2% of the bill for processing, which works out to Rs. 200. Now, you need to beat this amount for saving. Now assume you have a Citibank Premier Miles card, which gives you 4 points for every Rs. 100 spent – thus this bill for Rs.10,000 translates to 400 points. It is seen that the value of each point is between 80 paise and Rs. 1.50 (Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer point is approximately equal to Re. 1 and One British Airways Avios equals about 85 paise). Now, even if you consider that one point / mile is equal to a low of 80 paise, the number of points earned on that transaction translates to 400 x 0.80 = Rs. 320 which is a gain of Rs. 120. Most large retailers / retail chains do not charge this amount – yet another reason to cheer for hypermarts and malls.
